There’s nothing better for the soul than a good Harry & Ginny post-battle one shot. Inspired by this post!
“And then she came back to the room all flushed, and when I asked her where she’d been she just said ‘oh, nowhere,’ in her lying voice, because you know she always talks about an octave above her natural speaking voice when she lies. Also, I knew she was lying because she had these little twigs caught in her hair on the back of her head.” Ginny grinned mischievously. “So of course, the next time she told me she was off to do laundry, I asked her if she would throw some of my stuff in her load too, but obviously she won’t because ‘laundry’ has become code for ‘I’m going to go defile your brother in your beloved childhood treehouse.’”
Harry tried very hard to listen to the animated story Ginny had been telling him for the past five minutes, but found it very difficult to focus. Her long fiery hair was blowing gently in the breeze that swept through The Burrow’s back garden. The skin on her nose that had burned so easily a few days ago had healed, and brand new freckles bloomed across her cheeks like spring crocuses. She laughed as she spoke, smile wide and her hands gesticulating wildly. Harry was quite sure in that moment that he was happier to be alive than he had been in his whole life.
“Harry? You aren’t laughing at my hilarious story.”
“Oh, sorry,” Harry forced himself out of his daydream, flushing slightly at being called out. “So, what did Hermione say to that?”
Ginny shook her head, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. “Forget it, you weren’t even listening. I guess I’m too breathtaking for my own good.”
At her words, Harry leapt towards her, grabbing her around the waist and rolling the two of them so that they fell backwards in the grass, a mess of arms and legs. “You can say that again,” he growled before kissing her fiercely.
Ginny laughed against his lips. “How long have you been wanting to do that?”
“A whole year,” Harry said truthfully. He’d thought of kissing Ginny so many times in the last year that it felt simply impossible to be lying here in the tall grass with her, spectacularly alone and uninterrupted.
They kissed silently for a few minutes, her hands in his hair and his hands on her waist. They knew better than to explore each other any further while they were so close to the house, where any one of their extended family members could spot them. But Harry found that he didn’t care much if anyone saw him kissing Ginny, he just knew that he never wanted this feeling to stop.
“Mmm,” Ginny hummed, slowing her kisses down until they stopped completely, “I’m going to miss this.”
Harry stilled. He thought he knew what this might be about. Ginny was looking at him with one of her hard, blazing looks, and he knew that they were about to have the talk.
Harry sighed and lay back in the grass, pulling Ginny so that her head lay on his chest, his hand playing with her hair. He put a hand over his eyes to shield them from the July sun. “I hadn’t even thought about it, but of course you’re going back.”
He felt grimace against his chest. “Well, I’ve got things to do, you see. Got to make sure I can secure my place as best quidditch captain Gryffindor’s ever seen.”
“Oh? And what makes you think you’ll be better than the last one?”
“I won’t manage to get knocked out or banned from any games.”
“Fair enough.” It was true, Harry thought, he hadn’t set a shining example during his time as Gryffindor quidditch captain. “What else do you want next year?”
Ginny considered his question. “I want enough NEWTS so that I can play professional quidditch but get a sensible job when I retire. I want to keep the DA going, and I want to go down to Hagrid’s for tea more often. But most of all,” she rolled against him until she was laying on his chest, her hand caressing his face, “I want to see you as much as humanly possible.”
Harry forced himself to smile at her words. “That sounds like a plan to me.”
Ginny looked at him sadly. She kissed him lightly on the lips then settled herself back into the crook of his side. “What about you?” she asked, “what do you want next year?”
Harry thought hard. What did he want to do this year? He certainly didn’t fancy the idea of going to work for the Aurors right away. “I want to go on vacation.” he declared.
Ginny snorted. He looked down at the top of her head, bemused. “Think my dreams are funny, do you?”
“No, not at all,” she said, but her shoulders were shaking slightly with repressed laughter, “why on earth would you need a vacation Harry? Feeling stressed lately, are we?”
They both laughed then, loud, ugly laughing that filled the whole garden. They laughed for longer than the joke was funny, but laughing was a reason to hold each other, to delight in each other’s company while they could.
Harry wiped his eyes. “Well? What do you think I should do this year then?”
Ginny considered him. “I think you should take that vacation, but I think you should go alone. You need to do something where the only person you have to worry about is yourself. You’ve earned it.”
Harry put his hand on her head and pulled her towards him, his lips brushing against her forehead. “Fair enough. You know, Ginny, I’m not disappointed or anything that you’re going back. I always knew you would. I just… never had this before and I never want it to end.”
Ginny propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him through the strands of hair that fell in her face. “Never wanted what to end?”
Harry was silent. He wasn’t sure he could put what he was feeling into words.
“I suppose, when I’m with you, I just feel loved. Not that-” he said quickly, suddenly horrified, “I’m saying I, well, you know, I just love being with you! I mean, I do- the other thing- god, I’m mucking this up, aren’t I? What I meant was-” but Ginny silenced him by kissing him hard. Harry wondered how Ginny was able to fill her kisses with all the things he could not find the words to say.
When they broke apart, Ginny smiled sweetly at him. “I feel the same way, Harry.”
“Oh…well, good,” Harry breathed, feeling slightly winded.
They sat in silence for a few moments as they caught their breath. Finally, Harry sat up and crossed his arms against his chest. “I just… I can’t believe you’re leaving me, Ginny.”
Ginny sat up, confusion flashing across her face. “But I thought you just said-”
“I cannot believe you’re leaving me alone with Ron,” Harry whined, “God, Gin, do you know how absolutely insufferable he’s going to be? He talks of nothing but Hermione on a good day, just imagine him after he’s gone a week without seeing her, or worse still a month? I’m just not sure if I can forgive this betrayal.”
Ginny threw her head back and laughed. “Oh come on, he won’t be so bad.”
Harry shot her an incredulous look. “Not that bad? Do you know what he told me the other day? He told me that he sprayed some of her perfume on his pillow so that when she stays at her parents’ for the night he can still smell her! How am I supposed to live with that all bloody year while you two are off at Hogwarts?”
“You think she’s any better?” demanded Ginny, “The other day she wore his Cannons t-shirt! Around my bedroom! When she knows full well that I’m going out for the harpies when I finish school!”
They continued to argue, laugh, and lounge together until the sun sank low into the sky. Soon they heard Mrs. Weasley call them in for dinner, and Harry stood to help Ginny to her feet. Ginny instead stood up on her own, then proceeded to try and push Harry to the ground, laughing. As they walked back to the house hand-in-hand, Harry knew that not even a term apart could undo the healing that a summer with Ginny had brought him.
